Olivia dives right in to the World First race from her secret lair in the USA, wondering why the bosses are dropping like flies this time around and putting her pet theories out there for your examination. Next up, she's been besieged with emails about the Censer of Eternal Agony which is purchased from the Timeless Isle, and used either to mercilessly gank people like the black-hearted snakes you are, or for some fun world PvP, depending on your perspective. She hits up some viewer questions, if you want to send yours in email her on olivia@zam.com, and gets back to enjoying her holiday!

Click the cut for details on an upcoming Heroic Norushen hotfix and some recent Patch 5.4 changes!

Celebrated by both the Horde and the Alliance, the Brewfest is a time to enjoy the fermented fruits of the harvest: pretzels, cheese, and booze! The competing breweries Thunderbrew, Barleybrew, and the Ogres, all come together outside of all the major cities in a bid to outdo each other with their special ales, meads, and beers. Brave adventurers are invited to sit back, take a pull, and sample the finest wares these brewers have to offer!

During Brewfest, players can acquire the title Brewmaster and collect fun mounts like Swift Brewfest Ram! Like 2012, there are epics available:

The Droplet of Y'Shaarj no longer drops in LFR--you'll need to do Flex, Normal, or Heroic for it. LFR raiders can still get the adorable Gooey Sha-ling. If you really want the pet, remember that you can use your bonus roll from Warforged Seal to get the pet.

Another big fix is that the NPC party members in the Proving Grounds Healing challenge are a bit better at swapping targets, moving out of the fire, and using their AoE abilities. To learn more about Proving Grounds, check out our Proving Grounds Guide.

Avast, ye landlubbers--it be Pirates' Day! Put on your Bloodsail Admiral's Hat and get ready to celebrate in Booty Bay because September 19th is Pirates' Day in World of Warcraft--an in-game version of the international holiday Talk Like A Pirate Day. While not a full-blown holiday, Pirates' Day still has its very own achievement for the 24 hours day it comes to Azeroth.

In 2013, this runs from 11am PST on September 19th to 11am PST on September 20th, so you could sneak this in too while getting ready for Brewfest tomorrow!

While you can get a one-hour disguise from pirates throughout the faction cities, the main festivities take place in Booty Bay; here players will find pirates celebrating on top the roof of the Booty Bay bank, including the tribute NPCs Cap'n Slappy and Ol' Chumbucket, which pay homage to the real founders of Talk like A Pirate Day. There's even special fireworks, music, and cannons!

Once you've arrived, speak to the Dread Captain DeMeza and share a festive drink. She will grant you the Dread Corsair buff and give you a sweet pirate costume of whatever race your character is which lasts 12 hours! This buff will stay on while mounted, in combat, and even persists through death--unless, of course, you're a druid and you like to shapeshift. If you really love the pirate look, cloth-wearers can transmog to the Buccanneer's Regalia and top it off with a Admiral's Hat or Bloodsail Admiral's Hat.

Obtaining this buff will also earn you one achievement: The Captain's Booty. Since it can only be obtained in this 24 hour window, it's one of the rarer achievements in-game--even if it doesn't help you with any holiday metas! If you really want to show your pirate pride, consider doing Avast Ye, Admiral! throughout the year to get Bloodsail Admiral's Hat.

You can even get into the spirit of the festivities with the Pirate Speak addon which can be found on WoWInterface. Pirate Speak will spice up your in-game chatting with familiar pirate dialect, though you will have to enable out-of-date addons. Download it and get in the spirit of the holiday--while also annoying everyone!

We've been covering the changes in Vale of Eternal Blossoms since the early 5.4 PTR, and now that things are live, we've updated our guide to the Vale of Eternal Blossoms and Golden Lotus once again. You'll find maps and new locations for the One Many Army rares, details on the new cooking recipes, information on which quests are still remaining, and more.

For LFR, you will need ilvl 496 to queue up and the bosses drop ilvl 528 loot. If your'e stuck on how to get there, check out our gearing guide.

For Flex, you do not need an item level to queue up, but you must queue up with a premade group of friends. The Flex bosses drop ilvl 540 loot.

Both LFR and Flex loot is personal, meaning you have a chance to receive an item that corresponds to your loot specialization. To see what items are open to your loot spec, check out our boss pages and click on your class icon, or browse our loot spec info on item pages or filters.

As we covered in our 5.4 gear guide, Garrosh drops special tokens like Essence of the Cursed Conqueror that can be turned into armor tier for any slot. Guilds who killed him early in the week on 25-player mode only got one special token, and it was later hotfixed to give guilds 3 tokens. Guilds who killed Garrosh before the hotfix will be given two tokens to distribute to players by a GM.

The Harvest Festival is a small celebration to honor the fallen heroes of the Horde and Alliance. This year it runs from September 13th through the 20th, transforming the outside of Orgrimmar and Ironforge into feasts. With all the destruction and rebellion in Patch 5.4, now is a good time to reflect on the past and honor heroes.

Festival Foods

Festive tables full with food can be found outside of Orgrimmar and Ironforge, from which players can have their fill of food and drink as they celebrate the memory of their faction's fallen champions. You can hold up to 20 of each of these foods, and they do not expire, so they make great meals for alts!

Honoring a Hero

There is only one short quest chain available during the Harvest Festival, with both Horde and Alliance versions, and you pick it right up where the festival is taking place. For this quest, you are sent to show respect to one of your faction's most honored heroes--Grom Hellscream for members of the Horde and Uther Lightbringer for members of the Alliance. Miyari took the time to write up a brief quest guide for us.